


but we were in screaming color

by orphan_account



Category: Frozen (Disney Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Spoilers for Frozen 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-28
Updated: 2019-11-28
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:40:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21591610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: [spoilers for Frozen 2]Elsa took a deep breath. “I have an idea.”She looked so cautious that Anna couldn’t help but to be worried about whatever this idea was. “Okay? What’s your idea?”Looking into Anna’s eyes, she said, “Neither of us can remember the moment we met our soulmates. But I know some…place that does.”Her eyes widened. “Ahtohallan?"---Everyone is born seeing only in black and white. When they meet their soulmate, they begin to see in color. Neither Elsa nor Anna remember meeting their soulmate -- all they know is what their parents have told them, and that it happened at young ages. Fortunately, a certain river may be able to help them find out who their soulmates are.
Relationships: Anna/Elsa (Disney)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 308





	but we were in screaming color

**Author's Note:**

> Just to be very clear, this story contains incest. If that's something that triggers you or that you otherwise don't want to see, then you will not want to read this story.
> 
> Anyway, Elsanna shippers rise! I've wanted to write this for a while but kept getting stuck on things. After seeing Frozen 2, everything kind of just fell into place! I'm not good at drawn out, plotty things, so it's more like a bunch of snippets.

“What colors?” Elsa asked, pointing to a painting on the wall.

The nanny chuckled as she picked the three-year-old girl up so Elsa could get a closer look. “His hair is red – orange – like your papa’s. His skin is peach, like yours and mine. His coat is dark green, like the leaves on the trees.” She used her free hand to point to each thing as she continued to list off the different colors used in the painting. When she was finished, she shifted Elsa to be able to see her face better. “I bet you can’t wait until you’re bigger and can see colors all by yourself.”

The little girl beamed. “When I meet my so— so… stole…”

“Your _soulmate_ ,” she said kindly, after waiting a few seconds to see if Elsa would be able to remember the word. “The person you’ll love more than anybody else in the whole wide world.”

“And then I see colors!”

“That’s right. You’re so smart!”

Elsa giggled. Just then, their conversation was interrupted by the door opening, and she looked up in surprise. “Papa!” She squirmed to get out of the nanny’s arms.

The nanny put her down, and Elsa immediately went running to hug her father. “The baby! The baby!”

He chuckled fondly as he picked her up. “Yes, Mama had the baby. Would you like to meet your new little sister?”

She squealed in excitement, eliciting a laugh from both adults in the room, even as Agnarr covered his ear a moment. “Yes, yes, yes!”

Agnarr thanked the nanny for looking after Elsa while he was by Iduna’s side, then brought Elsa to see her. He paused right outside the door. “Mama is still tired and your sister might still be sleeping, so we have to be very quiet, okay?”

“Okay, Papa,” she whispered back.

He fondly patted her head before bringing her into the room.

When they entered, Iduna looked up and smiled. What appeared to be a bundle of blankets was cradled in her arms.

“Meet your new little sister, Anna,” Agnarr said as he set Elsa on the ground by the bed.

Elsa quickly scampered onto the bed to get a better look, Iduna scooting out of the way to allow her older daughter to see.

As soon as Elsa laid eyes on the sleeping baby’s face, she gasped. She looked intently for a moment, before looking around the room, her eyes wide. Not even noticing her parents’ confused expressions, she looked back at Anna, then to her father, and then she beamed. “Papa has the same color hair as Anna!”

Startled, he blinked and looked at Iduna. When he saw that she looked just as confused as he did, and knowing that she was undoubtedly still exhausted from childbirth, he decided on a simple, “What do you mean?”

Elsa pointed to the thin, wispy strands that could barely be identified as orange. Remembering what color the nanny had told her that her father’s hair was, she said, “Anna’s hair is red-orange like Papa’s!”

The question of how she could know that only became stronger in his mind. He remembered before he had met Iduna being able to pick up on some things being similar in color, seeing things effectively in grayscale. It wasn’t impossible that this was something similar, or perhaps a lucky guess. Who knew – it wasn’t as though children didn’t occasionally say odd or surprising things, after all. Maybe he was just reading too much into it. That had to be the case, he decided.

Sure, Elsa was quite excited, but of course she was. She had looked forward to her new baby brother or sister being born since she was told of the pregnancy. That wasn’t something he should look too far into either, he told himself, squaring his shoulders and willing himself not to feel so confused when there were so many unknown factors at play.

Elsa looked in awe at her baby sister for a little while before hopping down from the bed and running to the window. When she looked outside, she gasped, “The sky is the same color as Mama’s eyes!”

Okay, this was strange. Agnarr put a hand on Elsa’s shoulder. “Let’s not talk about colors anymore. Why don’t you and I go ask the cook to make us lunch?”

“…Okay.”

He looked at Iduna, and seeing the worry in her eyes, tried to offer a reassuring smile. Feeling confused as he did himself, it didn’t reach his eyes.

Agnarr walked with Elsa to the kitchen. Once the request had been made, he sat her in a chair at the dining room table. “I’m going to eat with Mama and Anna. You eat here.”

For the first time since finding out Anna had been born, the smile slipped from Elsa’s face. “Okay,” she said. When he pulled out a chair for her, she climbed into it to wait for her food.

All by herself at the table, she wondered if she had done something wrong. Mama and Papa hadn’t seemed happy for her at all, and now she was being made to eat all alone. Even when Mama and Papa were busy, she normally at least got to eat with her nanny. Tears started to roll down her cheeks, and a flurry of snow began to fall in the room.

The cook came out of the kitchen, intending to see if a butler or maid could bring lunch up to Agnarr and Iduna. He paused when he saw the snow, looking around and soon spotting Elsa all alone at the long table in a chair that was far too big for her.

Saddened by the sight, he approached her. “What’s wrong, Your Highness?”

She wiped at her eyes, already knowing that as a princess she wasn’t supposed to get emotional in front of other people. Even so, she was far too young to actually control her emotions. “Papa is mad at me.”

He frowned, not having heard or seen anything suggesting that. “Why do you think he’s mad at you?”

Her lower lip wobbled. “B-because he made me sit all alone,” she said, unable to articulate his lack of excitement in response to her seeing colors. She started to cry audibly, and she covered her mouth with her hands in an attempt to stifle the sound.

Even if she was the heir to the kingdom, it was sad to see such a little girl acting that way. “I’ll tell you what: after I get lunch up to your mama and papa, I’ll eat lunch with you. How does that sound?”

Seeming to feel better, she sniffled. “Okay.”

Technically, eating lunch with Her Royal Highness Princess Elsa of Arendelle might be overstepping his role a bit. Still, he had every confidence that so long as they understood what had led to him doing so, the King and Queen would be glad that someone had been there for her.

Back upstairs, Agnarr and Iduna spoke in hushed tones, afraid of being overheard when their lunch was brought in.

“Maybe it’s all just a misunderstanding,” Agnarr said. “She’s young. Maybe she’s just figured out how to compare the shades.”

Iduna’s hand stroked the soft hair on Anna’s head. It had been about a decade since she had last seen things without real color, so it did seem possible that she had just forgotten what the world looked like back then. It would be surprising for Elsa to become so adept at it so quickly, but then again, she had always been intelligent and mature for her age. “I hope you’re right.”

“Maybe we should discourage her from talking to the staff about it. I don’t want them to get the wrong idea.”

She thought it over, trying to see if she could come up with a better solution. When she wasn’t able to think of anything, she nodded. “Okay. Then we can just… keep an eye on it as she gets older.”

“Right. I’m sure then we’ll see what a misunderstanding we had.” Once it was confirmed to be such, he was sure they would laugh about it and wonder why they had ever even entertained such a ridiculous notion.

“I’m sure,” she echoed, although her expression remained troubled.

“I’ll talk to her about it after we finish lunch. You don’t need to worry about that right now.” He ran a hand through her hair, which had been taken down so she could be as comfortable as possible while in labor.

She nodded, letting her eyes drift shut. It was the middle of the day, but it was only natural that she was exhausted right now.

\---

“…And so I’ve always known, even if I see my soulmate again, I won’t even know who he is,” Anna finished her story with a sigh. “My parents said they’re not even sure when I started seeing color, so it could have been the marketplace… playing outside… some sort of event… literally almost _anywhere_. They said that when I meet him, I’ll know, but…” She trailed off, biting her lip as she looked up at her companion, hoping she wouldn’t see judgment in his eyes.

Instead, she saw understanding. “Me too!” Hans told her, his eyes widening in surprise. “I thought I was the only one.”

“My parents said it’s common for royals because we meet so many different people.”

“All 12 of my older brothers told me that maybe I was just born seeing colors, because I don’t have a soulmate,” he said, looking mournful.

“I’m sorry,” Anna sympathized, deciding against telling him that she had secretly feared the same thing. Nobody had told her that was a possibility that could happen, though – she had just come up with it on her own, during her many years of having far, far, far too much time alone with her thoughts. Something occurred to her then. “Wait, wait – so you have _how_ many brothers?”

“ _12_ older brothers,” he repeated. “3 of them pretended I was invisible – literally – for 2 years.”

“That’s horrible.” Her heart ached to hear of how his brothers had mistreated him.

He just shrugged. “It’s what brothers do.”

“And sisters,” she admitted, her gaze falling. “Elsa and I were really close when we were little. But then, one day she just shut me out… and I never knew why.”

His gaze was full of what she took to be understanding as he leaned closer and took her hand, promising, “I would never shut you out.”

She felt joy blossom in her heart. “Okay, can I just… say something crazy?”

“I love crazy!”

\---

When Olaf helped her escape the castle, Anna honestly had no idea who she was looking for. All she knew was that she was looking for her soulmate… for someone who would save her. Hans had clearly been lying about being her soulmate, and Kristoff had told her that he hadn’t met his yet. But even with no leads, her chances of finding her soulmate outside were better than her chances if she stayed locked in the castle.

Even with the storm raging, she hoped that remained true.

That was, until she heard the metallic sound of a sword being unsheathed and turned to see her sister about to be killed. “Elsa?”

She was going to lose her last chance at finding her soulmate before she froze to death, but there was no other option in her mind. The only thing she could have possibly done in that moment was to come to her sister’s rescue.

\---

“Hey, Elsa?” Anna asked softly one evening as they cuddled on the couch by the fire, just chatting and relaxing. “Have you met your soulmate yet?”

The question surprised Elsa. She felt instinctively as though she should dodge the question – their parents had always seemed so uncomfortable when she had brought it up that she had come to see it as something of a taboo subject, even though she had no idea why. But this was Anna, so even if it was taboo, it should be okay, she reasoned. “I have… I suppose.”

Anna pulled away, hope shining in her eyes. “What do you mean, you suppose?”

She looked down. “I don’t remember meeting him. Father told me we had just come home from an event where I had been playing with some other royal children, a little before you were born.” For some reason, the story always sat strangely with her. But she couldn’t remember it – of course not, if she was only 3 years old – and even if her parents had made some bad decisions in instructing her on how to control her powers, she was sure they wouldn’t lie about something like that, so she figured it was just her imagination.

“The same thing happened to me! I mean, not exactly the same thing, but kind of the same thing! Only our parents said they’re not sure when I met my soulmate, so I really don’t have any leads at all, but… I’m glad I’m not the only one.”

Elsa smiled. Why did she feel relieved to hear that Anna hadn’t met her soulmate yet? Maybe it was just because that would change things between them so much. Surely they would have less time to spend together if one or both of them were balancing that with a romantic relationship. “Luckily, we’ll always have each other.”

Grinning, Anna snuggled closer. “Always.”

\---

Elsa took a deep breath. “I have an idea.”

She looked so cautious that Anna couldn’t help but to be worried about whatever this idea was. “Okay? What’s your idea?”

Looking into Anna’s eyes, she said, “Neither of us can remember the moment we met our soulmates. But I know some…place that does.”

Her eyes widened. “Ahtohallan? Can… I even go there?”

Smiling, she nodded. “We should be able to ride together.” If Anna could pet the Nokk, which she could, she should be able to ride him just as Elsa did. The one part she wasn’t sure about was whether they could both go at the same time and see each other’s memories, but she was really hopeful that she could. Knowing that they were both curious about their soulmates, there was no way that she could go find hers without giving Anna the same opportunity.

She squealed a bit in excitement, throwing her arms around Elsa. “I’m so excited! When are we leaving?”

After a moment of thought, Elsa moved one arm from around Elsa to motion to the water out the window behind her. “We could go now.”

“Okay!” Taking Elsa’s hand, Anna started to head outside. It was just a short trip, about the same as when she stopped by to visit Elsa in the forest, so there was no need for her to pack and she already had established the line of succession should anything happen to her while she was away from Arendelle to visit her sister.

Standing near the edge of the water, Elsa used her magic to call forth the Nokk. When he materialized, she greeted him and used her ice to solidify his shape. “I’m bringing my sister along this time. Is that okay?”

He regarded Anna, then bowed his head to her in a show of acceptance.

Unsure how to respond to that, Anna smiled and curtsied. She normally wouldn’t curtsy to a horse, but she was pretty sure that the Nokk, being a water spirit, was more sentient than an average horse, making the situation different. “Thank you!”

Elsa got on the Nokk and motioned for Anna to do the same, stroking his mane. She knew that riding double on a real horse was typically not good for the horse, but she assumed that the issue didn’t apply to the Nokk, considering he was made out of water – or at the moment, ice – and didn’t have muscles or organs to get damaged. If he allowed it and didn’t show any signs of pain, she was pretty sure this was fine.

Anna mounted, sitting right behind Elsa. She felt her face begin to warm as she wrapped her arms around her, their bodies flush together.

“Hold on tight, okay?” Elsa was the one who knew how to guide the Nokk and she had a clearer sense of where their destination was than Anna, but she didn’t like having Anna behind her where it would be hard for her to protect Anna and make sure she didn’t fall off.

Anna squeezed a little tighter, feeling content when Elsa placed a hand over her arm for a second.

“We’re going to Ahtohallan,” Elsa told the Nokk as she began to guide him.

He started to walk. When Anna became accustomed to the feeling of him walking, he sped up to a trot, and then a canter, and finally a gallop.

Anna clung to Elsa, her heart racing in anticipation, excitement, and just a little bit of fear that she might fall off. But falling didn’t scare her too much, because she knew that no matter what, Elsa would never let anything bad happen to her.

While they rode, the waves crashing too loudly to carry on a conversation even if they shouted, Anna found herself wondering what prompted this. Was she not enough for Elsa? Okay, maybe that was a childish thought, and a ridiculous one considering that they were sisters. But she supported her, and they cuddled, and they loved each other and spent as much time together as they could… Why was Elsa okay with giving some of that up?

Still, she said nothing. If this was what Elsa wanted, then it was what she wanted too. Elsa had been through so much, she deserved to be happy. Well, they both did – Anna did know that – but she could never be happy if Elsa wasn’t. Elsa’s happiness was more important to her than anything else.

It was a surprise to Anna just how close Ahtohallan was when riding the Nokk, although she tried not to even think about how Elsa had managed to cross those waves before she had tamed him, or considering what taming Gale had looked like, what she had even had to do in order to tame him… no, even with it in the past and no longer able to hurt Elsa, she didn’t want to think about her sister being in any danger.

When they reached land and dismounted, Elsa gave a small bow to the Nokk, and Anna followed suit. She then linked her arm with Elsa’s. “Show me the way?”

“Of course,” Elsa smiled, placing a hand on Anna’s arm and gazing into her eyes. Though in truth, it was a pretty straightforward path and there was really no way anyone could make a wrong turn or get lost unless they forgot which direction they had come from, she felt good about being able to guide Anna.

When they approached the dome, Elsa paused, hesitating for reasons she wasn’t entirely sure of.

“Elsa?” Anna checked in, her voice soft.

Elsa bit her lip, looking at Anna. Anxiety was starting to build in her chest, and she had half a mind to call the whole thing off. She was doing this because she was sure Anna wanted to meet her soulmate, but personally she would prefer for things to stay the same, just the two of them. The idea of Anna spending all her time with someone else felt like a physical pain in her heart, and the idea of cuddling with a strange man the way she cuddled with Anna made her feel a little sick.

But she was doing this for Anna. She was doing this to make Anna happy, which she _owed_ her after suddenly asking her to be queen… well, after a lot of things, really. But even if she hadn’t felt she owed her, nothing was more important to Elsa than Anna’s happiness. She would sacrifice her own for that every time.

“No matter what, we’ll always have each other, right?” Elsa asked quietly.

“Of course.” Anna smiled playfully. “Even if we also have our soulmates, I’ll still always be holding on tight to you.”

Elsa smiled, relaxing at those words. “I’m holding on tight to you,” she echoed, touching Anna’s arm again.

The two of them stepped into the dome.

Elsa had expected that their separate memories would show up in separate areas of the dome, but instead, there was only one image displayed. It was her as a little girl with their father.

The two of them watched, neither really understanding why this was being shown. This memory obviously took place in the castle, judging by the wallpaper and decorations that could be seen in the background, so it didn’t add up at all with what they had been told as children.

In the memory displayed, Elsa and their father went into the room where their mother held Anna, just a little bundle in her arms.

_“Meet your new little sister, Anna,”_ Agnarr’s voice echoed through the dome.

They watched as 3-year-old Elsa set eyes on Anna and could see the moment her eyes lit up. Colors were reflected in her pupils instead of just grayscale. When Agnarr and Elsa left the room to go to the kitchen, the memory stopped, picking back up at Agnarr and Iduna’s conversation about how to handle the situation. When that had finished playing, the dome returned to normal.

The two women looked at each other, speechless.

Anna was the first to come up with a response. “We’re _soulmates?_ Elsa, you’re my soulmate…?” Her excitement grew as she spoke, her smile getting wider and her voice rising in pitch and tempo. She withdrew her arm from Elsa’s only to pull her into a tight hug.

Elsa had no qualms about reciprocating, even if she was still processing. “How can we be soulmates? I thought…” She had thought a lot of things, not the least of which being that her parents had been truthful with her to the extent of their knowledge.

She pulled away just enough to see Elsa’s expression, looking worried. Was Elsa not happy about this? Sure, it was a little… unconventional, but… “Elsa, I—I already thought, I didn’t know how I could have a soulmate because I couldn’t love anyone more than you. There’s no way… nobody else could have ever been my soulmate. I just, I never thought this was possible…”

Elsa nodded, feeling tears well in her eyes. “I always thought something was wrong with me,” she confessed. “Feeling how I did about you. …How I _do_ feel about you. But I guess now I know why.”

With a gentle smile, she brushed a finger right below Elsa’s eye, feeling tears fill her own eyes in response to Elsa’s emotion. “Maybe it shouldn’t make sense, but… I don’t think anything has ever made this much sense to me.”

She chuckled a bit, the sound watery. A thought came to her mind that she wondered what their parents would think if they knew.

As though a response to her silent question, Iduna’s face appeared in the dome. Anna and Elsa, 2 and 5, had made quite a mess while playing “tutors” and they had been scolded by their father, but she looked at them fondly.

It was the echo of her voice that answered the question: “ _I’m so proud of you both. When you grow up, the most important thing to me is that you’re happy._ ”

The two looked at each other, tears openly falling as they just held each other for a while.

When they had begun to calm, Anna sniffled and pulled away to smile at Elsa again. “You know… really, not a lot is gonna change.”

“Well… I can think of one thing that will change,” Elsa said with a shy smile. She cupped Anna’s cheek, her thumb brushing right over the corner of Anna’s lips. “We can do _this_ now… if you want to.”

Without even taking the time to verbally answer, Anna leaned in to kiss Elsa. She had thought for such a long time that something was wrong with her for wanting to do this, and yet she had wanted to so badly.

When Anna started to lean in, Elsa closed the distance without hesitation. If this was both what she wanted and what Anna wanted, there was no reason for her to hesitate.

It was a chaste kiss, the first kiss either of them had ever had. Once they pulled away, they rested their foreheads together, holding each other’s hands with fingers intertwined.

Anna began to sing softly, “ _For in this river…_ ”

Catching on immediately, Elsa joined her. “ _…all is found._ ”


End file.
